People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Suhail Bukhari on Sunday claimed that the Kashmiri youths connected with the party after August 5, 2019, the day Article 370 and 35 A were revoked from the Union Territory.
Speaking toat the youth convention, organized by PDP, Bukhari said, "The youth convention was organized for Mahbooba Mufti to interact with youth. Our party allows youth at all levels to work with us. They connect themselves with PDP, especially after August 5, 2019."
Earlier in the day, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led centre stating that no matter how many troops are deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, the government would not see positive results until the Kashmir issue is resolved.
The former J-K chief minister also warned the BJP not to be "attackers" stating that the people of Kashmir know how to "chase them away".
The PDP chief's remarks came while addressing the party's youth convention here.
"I want to tell the BJP that when the attackers came from Pakistan, the Indian Army had not come by then, the people did not have any guns in their hands, but still they chased the attackers away. So, don't be attackers, the Kashmiris know how to chase them away," Mufti said.
"Kashmir is connected to India through its Constitution. But you've (BJP) destroyed the Constitution. India doesn't belong to BJP. Till the time you don't resolve the Kashmir issue, you won't see any results no matter how many troops you send here. We won't let it become the India of the BJP," she added.
Lambasting the Centre for conducting the panchayat elections in J-K after the abrogation of Article 370 from the then state, Mufti asked the top leadership of the Centre to contest the panchayat polls "if these elections are so good".
"We established the relation of the Constitution with you, which you destroyed. You played with our respect. This would not work. If the panchayat elections are so good, then what are you doing on the top posts? Come down to the panchayat. If you say to the entire world that you scrapped the Assembly and Constitution of J-K, but conducted the panchayat elections, then step down from the top positions and contest the panchayat elections," she said.
The panchayat elections were held in 2020, nearly a year after the special status in the form of Articles 370 and 35A was scrapped from the Constitution in August 2019.
Mufti, while mentioning the India of MK Gandhi and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, said that she talks about the India that Nehru's great-grandson Rahul Gandhi is searching for.
"The Kashmiri people ask which country did I merge with and why? I want to tell them that when Hindus and Muslims were fighting in the name of religion, Kashmir was the only place where the Muslims who were in the majority here had saved the Kashmiri Pandits and Hindus and Sikhs. I am talking about the India of not today, but the India which Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru's great-grandson Rahul Gandhi are searching for today. I talk of that India which Nehru and Gandhi had made together," she said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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